For the past 29 years, Michael Fishbach has been actively involved in field research on, and conservation of, the ocean's largest whales.

During his 27 years of research in the Sea of Cortez, Michael Fishbach has worked with illustrious individuals and organizations including: Academy award winning director, Louis Psihoyos, Dr. Joe Roman of Harvard and the University of Vermont,  the BBC, National Geographic, Mission Blue and the Ocean Alliance,. The Cascadia Research Collective and other scientific organizations depend on Michael's expertise to help find, photo ID and film the whales of Baja.  The data collected and media produced during these annual field studies is used by numerous research and conservation groups to learn more about whale behavior and their essential role in climate protection with the goal of making a stronger case for their protection.  

 

It was this research that inspired Michael to found the GWC, where he now serves as its Executive Director.  In this capacity, Michael has convened important stakeholders in global transportation and whale conservation at the Ports of Los Angeles (North America’s largest port,) met with cetacean experts and environmental officials in Chile and worked with the United Nations President of the General Assembly office to convene a meeting on ship strikes and bring the issue to the floor of the UN.  Michael has given two TED talks in Haarlem, Netherlands and Asheville, NC and has been featured on CBS, ABC, Nat Geo and other international television stations for his heroic rescue of an entangled humpback whale--a video of which has been watched worldwide close to 100 million times.

 

Prior to his work in conservation, Michael was one of the top ranked 50 tennis players in the world and he spent ten years competing internationally on the Men’s Professional ATP Tennis Tour.